Illusions of the Mind & Lies of the Heart
by Regina Helio
Summary: Has anyone other than my friends noticed that I have an affinity for writing in sections instead of full chapters with no POV change? *shrugs* Oh well! R&R please!
1. (Prologue Pt. One- The Beginning)

Prologue: Part One

An eight-year-old girl sat whimpering behind a rock. 

"MacKenzie! Where ever you are, I'm heading back for dinner!" a boy calls out to his sister then leaves the park to head back to the orphanage.

MacKenzie sniffs. _Sure. Why not leave your twin out here alone with a hurt ankle, Terry? So typical of you. Think of your stomach before your twin. I'll limp in and you'll wonder why my ankle's so swollen. _MacKenzie thought sullenly as she sniffs yet again, oblivious to the approach of an eight-year-old Matt.

"Hullo!" Matt says cheerfully. MacKenzie quickly wipes away her tears and looks at the boy. 

"Hello." MacKenzie answers quietly. The boy had blond hair and blue eyes and seemed so happy that McKenzie's mood lifted slightly.

"What's your name?" Matt asks.

"Amemi." MacKenzie answers quickly. She had made up a name to tell kids she didn't know. 

"'Beautiful rain'. Sounds pretty." Matt replies.

"So what's your name?" MacKenzie asks laughing inwardly that the boy had named the meaning of her chosen name.

"Meiya." Matt answers without hesitation. His father had also told him to choose a name to tell kids he didn't know.

"'Dark fields'. Mysterious. I like it." MacKenzie says almost grinning.

Matt was slightly a gape that she would do the same thing that he did.

"For someone who just came over to say hi, you sure don't want to leave." MacKenzie says, smiling in her own little world. _If that doesn't get rid of him, he wanted something more than to just say 'hi'._ MacKenzie thinks smugly.

"I heard you crying." Matt says quietly, not wishing to offend the girl in front of him. MacKenzie let out a bark of harsh laughter.

"Me? Cry? You've got to be kidding. I'm just fine." McKenzie laughs as she lies to Matt. 

"Don't try to fool me, Amemi." Matt says seriously, "You look hurt. I can see it in your eyes and on your face."

"I told you I'm fine." MacKenzie says impatiently and stands up, forgetting about her hurt ankle.

"Ah!" MacKenzie cries as she falls to the ground. Matt was beside her in a flash.

"Stay still." Matt commands into MacKenzie's ear, then moves back to check her leg and ankle.

_I hate someone having the advantage over me._ MacKenzie thinks, her shoulder digging painfully into the dirt, as Matt places pressure on her leg to see if it was broken.

"I don't know why you're doing this," MacKenzie complains bitterly to the air, "because I'm perfectly fi- Ah!!!" MacKenzie cries out as brushes his elbow against her left ankle.

"Looks like you've got a broken ankle." Matt says backing away from MacKenzie, who was struggling to right herself.

McKenzie, sitting on the ground with her feet in front of her, started whimpering again. "I hate this! I hate having the down-side of things!" With that MacKenzie sobs into her hands.

Matt carefully moves her so she cries onto his shoulder. "It'll be all right, Amemi." Matt whispers in MacKenzie's ear then raises his head. 

"T.K., T.K.! Get Dad!" Matt yells to his little brother. The little four-year-old boy that had turned to hear Matt went scampering off to his father.

Matt looked back down at the older girl. "Shh… It'll be okay. My dad'll help you." Matt whispers reassuringly in MacKenzie's ear.

"Thank you, Meiya." MacKenzie whispers through her sobbing. Matt starts rocking her back and forth gently, like he remembered his mom doing for him when he had been upset.

A week later… 

MacKenzie walks to the park on crutches. She had nothing better to do, school was out and she had already done her homework. When this happened, which was often, she would go swimming but since she'd broken her ankle, she wasn't allowed to take more than a bath daily.

She crutches her way to the little lake in the middle of the park and sits on a bench near by with a sigh of relief. She was tired from supporting her weight on her hands almost all the time.

As she watches the fountain in the middle of the lake go through its sequence, MacKenzie hears notes from a harmonica floating on the light breeze.

Before she even realized it, she hums along with the floating melody while rocking slightly in time with the song.

MacKenzie looks around for the player and finds Matt sitting on another bench a ways around the lake.

"Hey Meiya." MacKenzie says, walking as best she can towards his bench. Matt looks up with a jerk and smiles when he sees MacKenzie approaching.

"Hey Amemi!" Matt exclaims happily. MacKenzie smiles.

"So, what have you been up to, Meiya?" MacKenzie asks quasi-cheerfully. She was still tired from the walk to the park.

"I've just been practicing." Matt answers, holding up the harmonica in his hand as an explanation.

"That's good." MacKenzie replies although she was becoming jealous of Matt. _He doesn't have to give up his favorite thing to do for two months because he broke his ankle._ MacKenzie thought jealously while trying to hide it with a smile.

"Don't lie, Amemi." Matt says without hesitation. _Whoa. Where did that come from? _Matt thought in shock. _How could I have been so rude to this girl?_

"Why do you think I'm lying, Meiya?" MacKenzie asks, genuinely interested yet upset that he had questioned her.

"I can hear it in your voice." Matt replies. Matt shakes his head in his own disbelief of his reply.

MacKenzie starts laughing, quiet but genuine, slowly getting louder. Matt thought that she was laughing at his response. "I know it sounds crazy but I do." Matt tries to reassure her, and, not to mention, himself at the same time.

"That's not why I'm laughing, Meiya." MacKenzie giggles but had a note of seriousness in her voice.

"Then why _are_ you laughing?" Matt asks, thoroughly confused at the girl's strange behavior.

"It's just that whenever I told that lie to my brother, who has known me his entire life, he believed it. Then you come along and proclaim it a lie outright and you've only known me for about a week." MacKenzie answers and starts laughing again.

"Yeah. I guess that would be kinda funny." Matt replies hesitantly.

"Meiya?" MacKenzie asks, suddenly recovering from her laughing fit.

"Yes Amemi?" Matt replies.

"Could you teach me how to play like that?" MacKenzie asks shyly.

"Sure I could, but not today. I don't have another harmonica with me and this one is one of my dad's." Matt replies hastily.

"Okay. That's fine. I have two months until I can swim again and I might as well learn something." MacKenzie shrugs.

"Can we meet here, tomorrow? I can bring two harmonicas then." Matt asks, smiling.

"That sounds great, Meiya. I'll see you tomorrow." MacKenzie replies and crutches off towards the orphanage.

"See you then, Amemi!" Matt calls after her.

Seven weeks later (10/9/96)… 

"Hey Meiya!" MacKenzie calls out to her, now, best friend.

"Amemi!" Matt exclaims in shock then quickly hides what had been in his lap a moment before.

MacKenzie smiles. _Meiya's so nice, even when it's not my birthday._ She thought as she walks without the crutches for the second day in months. She still had a little bit of a hobble to her step as her ankle wouldn't flex much but that was to be expected. Swimming would help her work out the stiff muscles.

"Wha' 'cha hidin', Meiya?" MacKenzie asks, a note of mischievousness in her light soprano voice.

"Nothing." Matt answers nonchalantly. MacKenzie sees right through his coolness and smiles.

"Don't lie, Meiya. I saw you hide a package behind your back." MacKenzie says with a giggle.

Matt smiles sheepishly. He had been hoping to surprise her with his gift. She had told him that she didn't expect anything from him except the harmonica lessons.

"All right." Matt says, taking the package from behind his back, and hands it to MacKenzie.

"I told you not to get me anything." MacKenzie scolds, smiling at Matt.

"No, you said that you didn't _expect_ anything." Matt corrects, grinning maliciously because he knew he had trapped MacKenzie in her own words.

MacKenzie unwraps the package carefully, almost too slowly for Matt's patience, glaring all the while at Matt. When she saw the gift, she gasps in delight. She takes the item out of its white box, revealing a small sterling silver flute.

"Meiya! It's beautiful! I love it!" MacKenzie says happily, holding the small sterling flute tightly in her small hands.

"I thought you might like it." Matt replies.

"Where'd you get the money? You don't get that kind of money just from allowance." MacKenzie asks.

"Well… I kinda asked Tochi to help me out…Hehe." Matt answers laughing slightly in nervousness. "It's a shame I don't have anything to play on of my own too. I don't own any instruments. My dad taught me how to play on his." Matt says, looking down at the sand beneath his feet. 

"Now that's where you're wrong, Meiya!" MacKenzie exclaims, grinning. She reached into her pocket and brought out a package wrapped in all shades of blue.

"Go on. Open it, Meiya. I got it for you now since I missed your birthday this year." MacKenzie encourages Matt.

Matt carefully unwrapped the package, trying to show MacKenzie that he had patience too. When he finally got the wrapping paper off, there was a small piece of tissue paper wrapping the object. Matt takes the tissue paper off and out rolls a gleaming harmonica.

"Ame- Amemi … This must have cost a lot of money!" Matt exclaims in shock.

"True. But it just means that Tochi and I don't move as soon as we'd like. That's a sacrifice that we can make for friends." MacKenzie answers with a smile. 

She knew that Matt had longed to have a harmonica of his own and not just a borrowed one from his dad.

"Now… Teach me how to play." MacKenzie says with a tone of finality in her voice. 

"Okay. First, you place your lips to the little hole at the top. That's the closed end, not the open end." Matt instructs, grinning slightly.

When MacKenzie gets the flute to her lips, her eyes widen. She turns the flute slightly and raises it so she could look at it closely, then gasps.

"Read it." Matt tells MacKenzie. 

" 'To Amemi, 2 Good 2 4Get'. Thank you so much, Meiya!" MacKenzie exclaims. "Now you read yours."

Only then did Matt notice the engraving on his new harmonica. He moves it into the shade of his own shadow and reads, " 'For Meiya, Best Friends 4Ever'. It's wonderful Amemi."

MacKenzie merely smiles.

"Happy birthday, Amemi." Matt says quietly.

"Thank you, Meiya." MacKenzie replies.

Matt abruptly returns to his lesson. "Now, where were we?"

MacKenzie smiles again and returns her attention to Matt's lesson.

Four months, one week and five days later (2/21/97)… 

"I finally get to move out of the orphanage, Meiya." MacKenzie says happily but Meiya didn't seem too thrilled.

"Meiya? Meiya, don't you realize how much this means to me and my brother?" MacKenzie asks, desperately trying to get a positive reaction from her best friend.

"Yes, Amemi, it just… what if I can't find you?" Matt asks uncertainly.

"Of course you'll be able to find me. We'll be in the same school, remember?" MacKenzie says, trying to reassure Matt.

"There are three elementary schools in the city. What if I wind up at one and you wind up at another one?" Matt asks worriedly.

"We'll meet again. I know it. I'm psychic about these things." MacKenzie states, still trying to smooth over any doubts that Matt had left.

They had been friends for almost half a year now and they knew the other like they knew themselves, if not better. 

"Meiya, let's say you're right for just a minute or two. If we don't meet again, take this and always remember me." MacKenzie says and hands Matt a picture.

It was a picture of Matt and MacKenzie that Terry took when they'd gone to the Autumn Festival. Terry had snapped the picture quickly when MacKenzie tripped on a crack and fallen down, tripping Matt in the process. In the picture, MacKenzie was laughing madly, half on top of Matt, who was also laughing. It was basically one pile of two laughing kids.

Matt grimaced. "Oh my… Tochi got a picture of that?" he asks plaintively.

"That's what I said after he got the film developed." MacKenzie says with a smile that could almost be a smirk.

"What did you do to him?" Matt asks flatly. He had always seen the way that McKenzie and Terry fought but it always ended with them off for the better.

"Oh… Just a few little trivial pranks. Nothing permanent." MacKenzie answers with a sly smile.

"Um… As long as we're on the topic, take this." Matt says and takes out a small pendant in the shape of a crescent moon.

"I know it doesn't have a chain but my mom kinda lost that and gave me the pendant." Matt says hastily.

MacKenzie only smiles, what looks suspiciously like tears forming in her sea-green eyes. Out of the blue, she hugs Matt, burying her face in Matt's shoulder.

"I could never forget you, Meiya!" MacKenzie practically sobs into Matt's shoulder. Matt pushes her away so he could look her in the face.

"You said it yourself, we _will_ meet again. Whether it's sooner or later is totally up to someone else." Matt says forcefully, shaking sense into his friend, metaphorically speaking that is.

"You're right, Meiya. I'm just being foolish." MacKenzie replies with a grin. She tucks the pendant into her jacket pocket and hugs Matt again.

"What was that for, Amemi?" Matt asks.

"That was for being my best friend." MacKenzie grins and wipes her face with her jacket sleeve.

The two children hear a car pull up and a man steps out. The man calls for Matt and he stands up.

"I guess I'd better get going." Matt says, trying to sound cheerful.

"Yeah. Me too. I need to get packing." MacKenzie replies, standing as well. "I'll see ya, Meiya!" McKenzie waves and walks off in the other direction.

When Matt got home, he placed the picture in a frame that he'd made for an art class and set the frame by his harmonica. 

"Matt! Dinner!" Mr. Ishida calls.

_Oh no. Dad cooked._ Matt thinks grimly and leaves his room, glancing back at the picture for just a moment, and shuts the door.

Across town… 

MacKenzie sat down on her bed in her now almost barren room. Every thing she owned was either packed or ready to be packed.

She would finally be moving into her own apartment. Granted, she would have to share it with Terry but that was bearable.

"You almost done, MacKenzie?" Terry asks from the hallway beyond her bedroom door.

"Yeah. I have just a few more things to pack." MacKenzie answers, glancing at her bedside table.

On the table, were only a few items; a small, light blue lamp with a dark blue rose painted on the lampshade, a clear-blue alarm clock and a blue picture frame with orange tabby cats. 

The picture inside the frame had rested there for about a quarter of a year but it seemed like only yesterday to MacKenzie.

At the Autumn Festival, again, Terry had snapped the picture while MacKenzie and Matt were giving each other bunny ears. MacKenzie smiles, lingering on the memory. _I hope I see Meiya again soon._ MacKenzie thought, getting out her Sailorsaturn duffle bag and places the picture and frame carefully in the bag.

"Makotokai! Get down here!" yells Miss Tanegachi, the manager of the orphanage.

"Coming!" MacKenzie calls back, setting the duffle on her bed, and runs down the steps.

_Disclaimer & Authoress's Note: : WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME I FORGOT THE DISCLAIMER!!!!!????? *clears her throat* Hehe… Sorry. I own Teriku Kane "Terry" [Tochi] and Makotokai Nona "MacKenzie" [Amemi] Hoshino, the pictures, MacKenzie's lamp, MacKenzie's picture frame, and MacKenzie's flute. Sailor Saturn belongs to Takeuchi Naoko-sama. Matt (the cute one), Mr. Ishida (the cute one's dad [I wondered where the cute one got his looks]), and T.K. (the cute one's brother) belong to the peeps in Japan who created it! I bow at their feet! Tah-tah!_

~Tes-sama__


	2. (Prologue Pt. Two- Reminiscing)

Prologue: Part Two

McKenzie's POV~

"Are you sure that we can afford this, Ter?" I ask, glancing back at the packet of information for a summer camp.

"Yeah, Zie, I checked the job jar and savings account and we have plenty to send us both." Terry replies, sounding irritated.

"But if we both go, it'll be," I pause, grab the packet and flip to the cost page, "about fourteen hundred. We both can't go. I _know_ we don't have _that_ much in savings and the job jar."

"Sis, you didn't read the fine print. It says that there's a discount for kids like us. I'd've thought you, of all people, would read the fine print. You do enough reading on other _people_." Terry replies. Only then did I even notice that there _was_ a fine print and, sure enough, there was the part about the discount.

"Okay but it says that we have to contact their office…" I say, my nose buried in the packet.

"Already did. Got the form. Filled it out. I just need you to double check it." Terry says and ducks into his room.

A moment later, he comes back out and hands me a form. I look it over but a line at the top catches my eye.

"TERRY!!! This says that to get the cut prices, it has to be in by the time the office closes today!" I yell in a panic.

"ACK!!! Read it on the way! The office closes at six!" Terry exclaims running for his shoes.

"Terry, it's five. We have plenty of time. What are you so worried about?" I ask, now puzzled.

"Simple. The office is across town." Terry says, fighting his shoe onto his foot.

"Ah!" I exclaim and run for my hiking boots. I always wore hiking boots ever since I'd broken my ankle for the second time… ever since I'd met Meiya.

I still hadn't found him. We'd made a major mistake. We never told the other our real name. Never told our last names. Kept a part of our lives secret.

I freeze, my boot halfway on. Two years, give or take a few months, I've looked for Meiya. I regret, now, not telling him the truth or not asking for the truth after we knew each other well enough. 

I shake my head and finish putting on my boots. I stand and grab the form off the floor.

"Let's go!" I say and dash out the door.

Two weeks later…

"PACK TERRY!!!" I scream. I'm sure the rest of the complex heard me; it's just that Terry was being stubborn again.

"Why? We don't have to leave until noon." Terry answers lazily, staring at his Game Boy.

I sigh heavily and answer, "Because, Terry, you'll SLEEP until noon!"

"Fine." Terry grumbles, turns off his Pocket Monsters game and sets it down on the table. He disappears into his room.

I sigh heavily. Terry was always the procrastinator and only he would think that he could back in the four hours before we have before we'd leave to catch the bus to camp. 

I sigh again. I can hear Terry packing. Actually, it was more likely that he was throwing clothing and other necessities into his bags.

I walk to the other side of the apartment and go into my room. There were only a few more things I needed to pack. 

Terry always said I was a bit of a neat freak, but I only now realized how true that statement was.

I had made it clear that we were going to do some serious cleaning when we got back, I'd put a plastic cover on my mattress to keep the dust out of it, taken off the sheets and blankets, cleaned them and put them away. I was going to sleep in my sleeping bag tonight. 

Why? Why am I such a freak when it comes to cleaning? I ask myself as turn on the light blue table lamp by my bed.

My hand brushes against the blue picture frame next to it. I pick it up and sit down on the bed, the plastic cover rustling, staring at the picture.

Bunny ears, Meiya, myself, the Autumn Festival; so many memories piled into one photograph. Why did I keep the lie going? Why didn't I tell him the truth before he left the park that day?

Why?

Matt's POV~

I stare out at the water over the edge of the bridge. Water the same color as Amemi's eyes; a brilliant, clear greeny-blue.

_I lied to her… she lied to me… I hate lies…_ I think, staring down at the lake. 

I had thought the lie was for the best. I didn't know her. She didn't know me. Why should we have trusted the other with our real names when we met? 

I push away from the bridge's railing and walk home, lost in thought.

I suppose we got so used to living in that lie that we didn't bother to correct it. 

When I look at the lie that turned into a friendship now, I find it horribly embarrassing as well. Two kids, strangers, lie to the other; then, a week later, their friends; another two months later, they're best friends, still keeping the charade going even though they trusted each other more than they did their siblings.

How naive we were! It was as if the gods were showing us what lying got us. We were such fools to think we would find each other at school.

I take out the photograph that Amemi had given me our last day together. 'The Laughing Pile of Kids' my dad had called it when I'd shown it to him. I feel a tear fall off my cheek and hit the picture.

I quickly wipe it away and rub my eyes as I enter my dad's and my apartment. I head straight for my room.

"Matt! You ready to go in the morning?" Dad asks from somewhere out in the living room.

"Yeah, Dad." I call back from the hall outside my bedroom door and go into my room. 

I set the picture back by my harmonica on my dresser: the harmonica that Amemi gave me on her ninth birthday. It's funny. We shared her birthday but never our real names.

I grab the harmonica and sit on my bed, looking at the dirty engraving. 

"Friends forever, huh? Some forever. Six months" I grumble sarcastically but then think. Maybe she still thinks that we're friends. Maybe she still wants to find me.

Maybes seldom are, Matt. I think harshly. Get a clue. She's gone and she probably won't be back.

Too true. I reason. 

The phone rings and I grab the receiver quickly.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Hey Matt!" T.K. exclaims happily on the other end of the phone line.

"Hey T.K." I answer, not quite as enthusiastic as I usually was when my little brother would call.

"You thinkin' about her again?" T.K. asks, sounding concerned. Sometimes I wondered how he knew what was going on in my head.

I hesitate then answer, "Yeah. How'd you guess?"

"Your voice gave it away. I bet you're even staring at that harmonica she gave you." T.K. replies off-handedly.

My jaw drops but I quickly shut it again. That's what I had said when Amemi tried to lie that time when she was upset at the lake in our park.

"So anyway, you ready for tomorrow? I can't wait to get back there! It's the Digidestine One Year Reunion!" T.K. laughs at the title that Kari had called it when Mimi had proposed the idea.

"Yeah. I'm ready T.K. Listen, Was that all? 'Cause I'm kinda busy." I ask, more hurriedly than I had intended to sound.

"Busy doin' what? Thinking about Amemi?" T.K. retorts quickly.

"Yeah. That's it. I'd rather think about an old friend that I haven't seen in years than talk with my little bro." I reply, sounding sarcastic.

"I'll leave you to it then! See you tomorrow, Matt!" T.K. says, playing along with the joke.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." I reply and hang up the phone.

The flute I'd given Amemi had said that she was too good to forget. That was so true that I wonder sometimes if I knew that we'd be separated.

Why didn't I just forget her? Haven't I held my word long enough that I'd think of her whenever I looked at the picture?

No! She's still out there, I argue with myself, and no matter how long we're apart, we'll still be friends.

My resolution would keep failing though. The hope that I'd had then was quickly diminishing into nothing; I had to keep it though.

The end of this Summer Break. That's as long as I'll wait for her. I resolve avidly. I stare at the harmonica again.

I'm sorry Amemi, but you'd understand… I think and start playing my song. It used to be that my dad would come in here to check on me whenever I started playing on my own but since last summer, the summer I became a digidestine, he'd started giving me more space and stopped checking in on me.

I almost wished he would now.

Kari's POV~

"Tai! Time to get up!" Mom shouts at the lump on the bottom bunk that was my brother.

"Wha?" Tai asks sleepily, blinking.

"It's ten 'o' clock sleepy-head. Time to get up!" I say, leaning over the side of my bunk, surprising Tai.

"Ah! Kari!" Tai exclaims, jumping nearly a foot off his bed and hitting his head on the bottom of my bunk.

"Ow…" Tai pouts, rubbing his head gingerly.

"Come on Tai! We leave for camp in a few hours." I urge as I start to climb down the ladder.

"All right. I'm up." Tai grumbles, still nursing his head, gets out of bed.

I finish packing as Tai eats his late breakfast. When he was done, I help him finish packing tee shirts into his bag.

It was only ten-thirty when we finished packing so we watched the Sailormoon S movie. Granted, it's not all that great but it's a time-waster. 

When the movie was over, we ate a quick lunch of sandwiches.

Tai heads to the door after grabbing his bag.

"C'mon Kari! We're gonna be late!" Tai calls from the front door to the apartment.

"Coming!" I shout back, getting my own bag hoisted to my shoulder. I hear a soft clink of metal hitting the wooden floor. I look behind me at my feet. What I saw astonished me.

The Crests of Courage and Light lay on the floor like someone had hastily taken them off and they'd fallen off a ledge.

"Kari! Get it moving!" Tai yells again.

"Hold on!" I reply, grabbing the two crests and pocketing them.

I run out into the hall and dash towards my brother.

"Here. Let me take that." Tai says, reaching for my bag.

"Tai, I'm not sick! I can carry it just fine." I refuse, shifting position to make the bag inaccessible from Tai.

"Let's go! I can't wait!" I say happily. Walking down the hall to the elevators, I was nearly bouncing.

"Whoa! Slow down there, sis!" Tai says, running to catch up with me because I had started skipping.

"I'm so glad I get to go to camp this year." I announce happily. _Although the kids that came to fix lunch were really nice. Not to mention that the food was great!_

On the bus, we'll meet up with the other digidestine and the One Year Digidestine Reunion would commence.

_Disclaimer & Authoress's Note: : WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME I FORGOT THE DISCLAIMER!!!!!????? *clears her throat* Hehe… Sorry. I own Teriku Kane "Terry" [Tochi] and Makotokai Nona "MacKenzie" [Amemi] Hoshino, the pictures, MacKenzie's lamp, MacKenzie's picture frame, and MacKenzie's flute. Sailor Moon S Movie belongs to Takeuchi Naoko-sama. Matt (the cute one), T.K. (the cute one's bro), Tai (the cute one's pain in the butt), and Kari (the cute one's brother's soon to be crush) belong to the peeps in Japan who created it! I bow at their feet! See ya in Chapter One! Anyone for a camping trip???_

~Tes-sama__


	3. (Chapter One- The Truth Seer)

Chapter One

The Truthseer

MacKenzie's PoV~ 

"Terry! C'mon! The bus won't wait forever!" I yell from the sidewalk in front of the Himoto Apartment complex.

"Hold your horses! I'm coming, I'm _coming_!" Terry replies, yelling, from the balcony of our third floor apartment.

"Finally!" I sigh as Terry runs out of the doors to the complex.

"Oh, give me a break, Zie! I forgot my sunscreen." Terry snaps, re-shouldering his bag.

"And your toothpaste. And your pillow. And your gameboy." I add, smirking playfully, "Honestly, Ter, I could go on and on. Didn't I tell you to pack last night? Didn't I tell you that you'd sleep until the very last possible moment?"

"Ah, shad'dap." Terry's traditional response for when I nagged on him, which was often.

"Oh, c'mon. We're late as it is." I say urgently and start running down the street only to crash into a boy about my age.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking! I'm just late…" I exclaim, picking up the brown-haired boy's bag.

The boy notices the bag at my own side and grins. "To catch the camp bus to the mountains?" he asks, finishing my sentence.

"You too?" I ask and hand him his bag. "Hey. You're that kid on the soccer team, aren't you?" I ask.

"Yeah. You two look like those 'Track Twins' that I hear about." Taichi Kamiya says, taking his bag and shouldering it.

"Glad to know our new nickname. Let's go, Zie!" Terry yells, speeding past me.

"C'mon!" I call to Taichi and what looked to be his little sister and dash off after Terry.

"Hey wait!" the little girl cries as she tries desperately to catch up with her faster brother.

"Terry, hold up!" I call ahead and stop. "C'mere kiddo. Seems like you can't keep up with us." I say and kneel on the hot pavement.

"Give me your bag." I say and she hands it to me. "Heads up, Ter!" I toss him the bag and hoist the girl on my back. I adjust her slightly so she wouldn't choke me while I ran.

"Hold on, kid." I warn then take off with both boys in close pursuit.

After about five minutes, I couldn't tell because I couldn't look at my watch, we get to the bus stop just at it was pulling away from the curb.

"WAIT!" I yell, skidding to a halt close to in front of the bus doors. Taichi's sister, still on my back, yells, "Open up!"

The councilor stands up, his clipboard in hand, and asks, "You are?"

"Hoshino, MacKenzie and Terry." Terry answers, panting for breath.

"And you?" the councilor asks the girl on my back and Taichi.

"Kamiya, Hikari." Taichi's sister answers then Taichi says, "Kamiya, Taichi."

"All right. Have a seat." the councilor says, sitting back down in his seat.

"Time to get down, Hikari." I say, letting her down.

"Kari, please. And my brother likes to be called Tai." Hi – Kari, I mean, replies and takes a seat towards the front of the bus.

"Thanks. We would've missed the bus. I owe you one." Tai says, getting on the bus behind me.

"No sweat." Terry replies over his shoulder. I, mock snidely, add, "Or the excess thereof."

Tai laughs and sits next to Kari and in front of a blonde boy that looked oddly familiar.

"Hello!" I greet cheerfully. He looks up from talking to, I assume, his little brother and stares at me.

"Hi." He answers at last. "I'm Matt. Matt Ishida."

My heart fell. "MacKenzie Hoshino. Nice to meet you. Have Tai tell you what happened on the way here." I say with a false grin that he seemed to see through.

I move to the back of the bus and sit with Terry, mentally berating myself. 

"_You idiot! You hopeful_ idiot_!_" I scream in my mind. "_You actually thought that he might have been Meiya?_"

What am I supposed to do? Give up all together? Forget that those six months ever happened? Forget that I got a flute on my ninth birthday?

"Wha'cha stewin' over, Zie?" Terry asks, tearing his gaze from the moving scenery outside to follow mine.

I was staring hard at Matt, who was now talking animatedly to Tai, occasionally laughing.

"Just don't worry about me." I answer, leaning back against the seat. Terry resumes his window gazing.

"If lies could tear us apart, then can't the truth get us together again?" I reason. "Only if you manage to find him. You've looked for Meiya for a little under three years now. In fact, it was around this time three years ago that you met him for the first time. Three years is long enough. Let him go with the summer." answers a voice in the back of my head.

Go with the summer, Meiya. I agree. I've waited around long enough. If he really wanted to find me, he would have by now… Friends forever nevermore. I add sadly. Meiya had been a friend that never let me down save once. That once had caused this separation. Of course, I had helped. If only I could do it over again. If I only I could tell him… If only…

"Hello! My name's Fiona and this is Katrina. What's your name?" asks a blonde-haired, green-eyed girl in the seat across the isle from me. She sat next to a brunette with penetrating blue eyes.

"MacKenzie. This is my brother Terry." I answer, turning in my seat. At least the two girls would offer me some distraction from the furtive glances that "Matt" kept throwing in my direction.

Disclaimer: The councilor dude (I forgot his name), Tai, Matt, T.K. and Kari belong to Toei Animation. No, I've not got this mixed up with Sailor Moon. Amazingly enough, Digimon is from the same peeps that make Sailor Moon. Anyways… MacKenzie and Terry Hoshino, Fiona and Katrina are mine. You'll find out more about those two when I get to Chapter Two and Three. ^_^ Look at it this way; I got this up after how long? Hehe… I roast marshmallows, my brother and hot dogs on flames so don't bother sending 'em. Tah-tah! 

~Tes-sama


End file.
